Many students have to live with roommates while going to school or university. What are some of the important qualities of a good roommate? Use specific reasons and examples to explain why these qualities are important.
Sample Response
When I was a student at a Russian universityUniversity I lived with my friend Tonia. In factFrankly speaking, she was not my friend at first. DeleteI mean that we metmeet when we were in our first year at university. She was looking for a place to live and I offered to let her stayoffered her to stay at my place because I lived alone and it was quite expensive for me at that time. I must confess that I never regrettednever felt regret about my decision because Tonia turned out to be a great roommate. Moreover, we became friends and now, two years after my graduationnow after two years from my graduation, we still call each other, care about each other and chat onlinethrough the Internet. Unfortunately, now we live in different cities and even different countriesdifferent cities even in different countries, but I hope our friendship will continue.
In this essay, I will list the main qualities of a good roommate that are, in my view, essentialwhich from my point of view are essential. Furthermore, I should add thatI must inform that Tonia possesses all these qualities and I am proud to have such a great friend.
First of all, a roommate must be kind and generous. It is easier to livedeal with a person who is kind and ready to lendoffer a hand. For example, kindness and understanding are essential qualities if one roommate gets illif one of them got ill. Secondly, roommates must have common interests because this will help them findit will help them to find more topicssubjects to discuss. I think that when people have nothing to talk about, theytalk about they should not live together because it will be difficult for both of them. In addition, a roommate should have a sense of humourmust be funny while also beingbut at the same time, she or he must be attentive and understanding. Selfishness is not a good quality for a roommate because people who live together should be attentive to each other's feelings and be ready to give up some of their time for each othersacrifice their time to each other.
In short, I think that roommates must be friends because friendship means understanding and sympathy.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response offers a clear set of relevant roommate qualities and remains easy to follow, with the personal example adding an engaging context. Its main limitation is that the lengthy opening leaves comparatively little space to explain why each quality matters, so several points remain general or repetitive. Prioritise two or three distinct qualities and develop each with a specific situation, consequence, and explanation.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response addresses the question with several relevant qualities and some supporting explanation, but development is uneven and the opening anecdote occupies excessive space.
Develop fewer qualities in greater depth, linking each one to a specific roommate problem and its practical outcome.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay has a clear overall progression, although the long introduction and crowded main body create an imbalanced structure.
Give each major quality its own focused paragraph and shorten the personal background so the argument advances more evenly.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is adequate for the topic and includes some less common expressions, but several word choices and collocations are awkward or imprecise.
Use more natural combinations such as 'regretted my decision' and 'topics to discuss,' while avoiding unnecessarily formal phrases such as 'I must inform.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentences communicates meaning clearly, despite recurring errors with tense, articles, prepositions, and clause construction.
Proofread verb forms and time expressions carefully, especially forms such as 'met,' 'two years after graduation,' and conditional clauses.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Many students have to live with roommates while going to school or university. What are some of the important qualities of a good roommate? Use specific reasons and examples to explain why these qualities are important.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.